Woohoo!

Got my replacement ipod through the post today. All good.

Update on my sick ipod

Apple sent me an email saying that my ipod replacement is on its way. Woohoo!! Should come in the mail by early next week.

I've gotten questions on whether the ipod really does display that sad ipod icon. Yes, it sure does.

I'm poor

I've just realised that I left my wallet at home. =(

Today, when K and I are supposed to go DFO shopping. Do you think it's a sign?

What to do?

My new toy is cool

My phone's charged and ready. I've been listening to the built-in radio and it's a godsend. Especially as my ipod is still sick. And my officemate has a very loud voice. And she's not afraid to use it. I've been missing my ipod sorely, especially when she's around.

I've just realized that all my contacts are saved in my old phone. Not the sim. I have no idea how to get the details from there. Boohoo.

But other than that, i'm liking my new phone. I haven't explored it too much but I think it'll work well with my needs (which isn't much). I hope battery life isn't too short and I have to get used to flipping it open (not as easy as with my old samsung) and the menu/keypad (which i don't think will be hard to learn).

Woohoo!

I have a new toy!

I got me a new phone. Sony Ericsson z550i. It was the freak wave that finally pushed me to do it.

I've had my old phone (Samsung fliptop) for almost 2 years now and I've been meaning to replace it. But I kept putting it off as I couldn't be bothered looking for a new one.

Well, as my phone is disabled (the keypad doesn't work), I needed a new one, pronto.

Which is this new baby. I like it. And it didn't cost me much, which is very important.

My only requirements were: fliptop (which it is), decent camera (1.3mp, at least it's better than a VGA) and bluetooth (check). It even added some other features that I think is cool: mp3 player and FM radio. Woohoo!

It's charging at the moment so I can't play with it yet...

(Near) Phillip Island, Fishing and Freak Waves

Last weekend, D and I went away with Karima & Tyler.

We kept telling people we were going to Phillip Island but in reality, we stayed in a town near the island but not actually on it. In fact, we never even managed to get to the island itself. Haha. We had brunch in one town which was actually the link from mainland to the island but we didn't actually cross the bridge.

The circled bit is Kilcunda. We came from near Brighton, near top left corner.

About 120kms from the city. 2 hours with heavy traffic.

Oh well. Semantics. It was fun anyway.

We left Friday afternoon and encountered some bad rush hour traffic. We finally got to Kilcunda Caravan Park at a little past 8, just in time to catch the sunset. It was very nice. The place was quite nice too, for a caravan park. And for just $55/night per cabin, it was good value for money. It had a great view of the ocean.

Almost immediately, we started on the beer but we only had a total of 15 bottles. We then made our way into the vodka. All this, without having dinner. You can imagine how that turned out (T dropped his wallet on the beach and didn't even know it). Very relaxing night though. Just chilling and chatting. We didn't get to bed until past 2 o'clock.

The next day, D being all excited about the fishing, woke up fairly early. Too early for me anyway. We cooked eggs and bacon for breakfast but since we forgot to bring bread, we had to eat them with just tomatoes and baked beans. Lesson 1: Eggs do not taste good without bread or rice.

We were about to get started on the day when T accidentally got the key stuck in K's car. The keys were just dangling on the door lock but we couldn't get it out. D & T tried their manly best but we ended up having to call RACV. Lesson 2: You can't unlock K's car from the driver's side.

Once the key was unstuck and the doors open, we made our way to this bigger town, San Remo, to get some brunch, food supplies and T's fishing gear. The food was average, we bought way too much food and beer, and T got a good deal on a rod and reel.

We went back to the caravan, dropped off the supplies and packed our stuff for our day of fishing. Finally, we were on our way. This was already way past 11 o'clock.

We had to check out a couple of spots before we found one suitable for fishing. It was a hot, long walk from the car to the "spot." The sun was unbearably hot so we decided to walk nearer the water along the beach.

So, we were trudging along, carrying our cooler, bags, fishing gear and everything else you could think of, when, out of nowhere, this freak wave comes crashing over us. It almost carried K away and completely drenched all of us. Needless to say, our belongings got wet. All the towels became soggy and heavy. D's phone, which was in his pocket, was wet and dead. I thought my phone was fine as it didn't look like it got drenched, just splashed. I was wrong as the keypad didn't work by the time we got back to the cabin. My ipod got sick too but I don't think it got wet as it was very well protected (padded hard case, screen protector). But it got sick nonetheless. Lesson 3: Do not bring electronics to the beach. Lesson 4: When walking on a Melbourne beach, make sure you're at a safe distance.

We decided to walk at a safer distance from the shore. We finally got to the spot and we were drenched, salty and sandy.

This is turning out to be a longer blog than I thought. I'll continue it later...

My ipod's sick

I'm sad. My ipod's sick. It's displaying the sad ipod icon.

I have to send it to Apple for them to fix. I hope it wasn't the freak wave (more on that later) that hurt it and that the Apple people fix it under the warranty.

Probably a couple of weeks of no music. How quiet.

At least I'd already backed up my music onto my mac. Not having my music library would've been worse.

I hope ipod gets better soon.

The end of a love affair

I left work promptly at 5pm yesterday to try and get to Ikea before the bookcases sold out.

It took me 10 minutes to get a cab and another 30 minutes to get to Ikea. 30 looonnggg minutes. Traffic was atrocious.

So I got to Ikea 10 minutes to 6 and looked for the damned thing. Found the location bay but there weren't any there. There were stocks of the other colors, but none of the black-brown.

I went to the service counter and talked to Ikea boy. He couldn't seem to figure out the system as he was staring at the screen for 10 minutes. Finally, another Ikea boy came and sorted it all out. During this time, another customer came and asked for the same thing!

The other Ikea boy said there wasn't any left on the floor at the moment. He said they'll be bringing in new stock by the next day. And he said to call beforehand to make sure. I said, I DID CALL. Half an hour ago.

TCH.

So I decided to go check out the bargain section and lo, and behold, there were 2 bookcases standing there. One had white shelves in the middle. Of a black bookcase. Weird. The other, which was $50 cheaper, looked perfect. Aside from a couple of scratches inside one of the shelves, that is. And so I was standing there, holding on to it to make sure nobody else got it, when I called D. And told him the story. He was up for just buying the bargain one.

I didn't want to leave the bookcase's side so I had to wait around for somebody to help me load it onto my trolley. Once I had it loaded I went directly to the cashier to pay.

I had to wait another half hour for D to come pick me up. During this time, I couldn't leave the bookcase anywhere so I had to stick close to it. I couldn't even go to the toilet! I bought myself an Ikea hotdog & a drink and settled myself in one of the sofas.

I'm very happy this whole ordeal is now behind me. D's already set it up and has records already stashed in it (I'll take a picture of it). And the best part is, we didn't even have to assemble it!

Before all this, I used to LOVE Ikea. We don't have an Ikea in the Philippines and I still remember the very first time I stepped into an Ikea store (this was in Singapore). I thought it was SO amazing.

When D and I were nesting, we were in Ikea practically every weekend, buying knick-knacks and what-nots. Ikea proved to be very useful for us then.

But now, after this run around, I have lost my taste for Ikea. My love affair with this store has sadly come to an end. I thought we'd still have a few years together but it was just not meant to be. I have to let things be and move on with my life.

I would still probably visit Ikea once in a while to reminisce but it won't have that special place in my heart anymore.

Adieu, Ikea. It was good while it lasted.

=

The Bookcase is in stock!

5 minutes ago, I called Ikea girl again and she said the bookcases are available!! But they expect to run out of them by closing!! Oh, the humanity! I have a meeting in half an hour!

I have to see whether I can leave work early later and whether they'd still have it in stock by then...

By the way, if I've made you curious as to what this holy grail bookcase looks like, it's this:

Happy Hearts Day!

Just wanted to wish everyone a happy hearts day!

We have nothing planned tonight as I really don't like celebrating this day, as a matter of principle. BUT, D is going to get me a present. Woohoo! I hope he's not expecting anything back though as I haven't gotten him anything...

I haven't even managed to get his birthday present happening. Damn Ikea.

Health Update

I took yesterday off from work to give my infected eye time to heal. It looked ugly Monday evening and wasn't any better Tuesday morning. I was a bit worried about it so I decided to stay home and rest.

I slept for most of the day since I couldn't really do anything with a broken eye. Spent 1 1/2 hours on the computer at most, 10 minutes watching TV and 0 minutes reading, but basically slept through the day. I am happy to report that my eye looks much better today. And as an added benefit, I'm not snivelly anymore. Sleep is SO good.

I'm back at work now. Another day of sleeping in would not have gone astray but I did get bored yesterday. Oh well.

More on the ikea story

I tried checking online if the damned bookcase was in stock. It wasn't even LISTED anymore!!! Don't know if that's a filing glitch or it's the curse of the Expedit Bookcase happening.

So I called Ikea girl again. She said they were out of stock but expecting delivery next week.

It's so ridiculous you'd think I was inventing this...

Falling Apart

I've been having more ailments than usual lately. I think I'm starting to fall apart (when I say that, I have this morbid image of me just picking up body parts as they detach and fall down to the ground).

Here's a rundown of the current ones:

(1) Infected Eye: I've been wearing my glasses the past 2 days since I have a self-diagnosed eye infection. My right eye is puffy and looks yucky. I'm trying to heal it by willing it to get better and leaving it alone (i.e, no contact lenses. hence, the glasses). Since I haven't gone to the doctor, I have no further cure for it. Maybe I'll try the warm compress over the eye. I vaguely remember my mom prescribing it before.


(2) Injured Toe: We went to St Kilda festival yesterday. It was unbelievably windy (sort of like the typhoons we get in the Philippines but without the rain. With full sun and blue sky too) and combine that with Melbourne being dry (haven't had rain for ages), we were blasted with dirt, grit, sand, dry grass and everything else, while we were walking around. Seriously, it was so bad that we couldn't even talk much coz you'd get something flying into your mouth if you tried. Suffice it to say, it was not the best day for a festival.

We did manage to catch a few bands with my personal favourite being Tecoma (listen). But we only stayed for about 3 hours as the windy conditions were not really conducive to festivaling.

What's all this got to do with my injured big toe, you ask? Well, we were making our way back to the bus stop (took the bus to and from St Kilda as the roads were mostly blocked) when this gaggle of girls ran smack into me. They were too busy chatting (this one girl in particular) and just barrelled into poor me. This girl smashed the heel of her shoe on my poor left big toe. It hurt. Really bad. It even bled. Bitch. I didn't even get a proper look as I was too busy keeling over in pain. Yes, it really really hurt.

That did not help with my festival spirit at all. So now, I have a painful memento of the St Kilda festival. It still throbs and looks ugly. I am self-medicating it with betadine and papaw cream.

(3) Sore Throat/Snivelly: This is just your average feeling flu-y kind of sore throat. Been snivelly and sneezy since yesterday. I don't know whether it's an allergic reaction to all that dust flying around in the festival.

I am healing myself by taking vitamin C (well, I try anyway. I forgot to take one this morning) and willing myself to get better as we're planning a weekend away to Phillip Island. D wants to go fishing and he wants to drag me into it. I have managed a compromise wherein I asked Karima & Tyler to come along. I was thinking that when we get bored with the fishing, at least Karima and I can leave the boys to their own devices and do something else.

(4) Bruised knee and scratched foot: These ones are more than a week old. I got them from the Moonlight Cinema, which was really fun, by the way. The cinema and not how I got the bruise.

D and I got there early enough (6.30pm) but there were already heaps of people waiting outside the gates. We were able to secure a fairly good spot and reserve places for 6 more people (D's brother + girlfriend Jenita, Karima + boyfriend, Rob & Jenita's friend). After a lot of phone calls and scrambling about, we were able to get everybody in and seated.

We brought heaps of food and since the movie was scheduled to start at sundown, we kept ourselves busy eating. We also brought wine and beer. Since nobody wanted to drink my red wine (Karima brought white wine for her, Jen/friend didn't want to have any and the boys had their beer) I drank the whole bottle by myself. And therein was my downfall.

After the movie, it was really really dark (since it was held in the park, it wasn't like in the cinemas where you have the lights turned on) and there were heaps of people going out. We followed the herd and since I was wearing silly slippery slippers, I fell down when I skidded off this concrete thingie on the ground. The fact that I was tipsy did little to help my sense of balance. So I fell and scraped my foot and bruised my knee. The scrape is not healing as fast as I'd like as I keep forgetting to put papaw cream on it. The bruise is now a fading pink/brown color.

Btw, just to balance things out, I have another bruise on my right knee due to me bumping into furniture. But that's pretty much stock standard.

Another btw, it was the best Bond movie I've ever watched. I'm not sure how much the alcohol affected that view.


(5) Chronic back pain: That's been there forever and I think it'll stay there. My pilates/yoga plan has not taken off yet. I have been lazy.


Yes, I'm falling apart. I think you would agree heartily. It's a wonder that I can come to work at all...

The Ikea saga continues...

I called them again Friday afternoon around 3. The ikea girl said that they DID have stocks of the elusive bookcase but if I couldn't get there within the hour, they'd be gone. Since I was just about to head off to a meeting, I really couldn't go and get there, could I?

I called again around 5pm and a different Ikea girl answered. Guess what? Yup, you guessed it. THEY WERE NOW OUT OF STOCK. She said they should get new stocks by next week.

This bookcase is turning out to be the holy grail of bookcases.

I checked their online site and the color that we wanted is the only one out stock. All other colors were there. TCH.

Quick Update

I'm very busy (unusual, yes) at work at the moment. And I've been out of my desk a lot this week due to meetings, lots of them. That's why I haven't been blogging per usual.

Anyway, just wanted to give a short update on what's going on:

• No, we still haven't bought that damned bookcase from Ikea. Guess what? Just called them today and they're OUT OF STOCK again.


• No, I didn't go to yoga class last Tuesday. I'm so slack.


• Tonight is Spanish class again. D and I studied yesterday to get updated (we missed a class last week due to bowling night). Can you believe I had to force him to study? He was grumbling and complaining the whole time too. Hehe.


• No, we haven't been to the St Kilda festival. It's been on for nearly a week but we just haven't managed to get ourselves down there. We'll definitely go for the big festival on Sunday though.


• We've been obsessed with Heroes for the past couple of weeks. We've already watched all the old episodes online. Yes, it's poor quality but we had no choice. It only started showing here in oz last week and Thegan have been slack in providing for our DVD collection.

That's it for now. I have to get back to work...

Picasa and bloody googlers

I recently found out that there is NO Picasa available for Mac! It's absolutely horrid. iPhoto is okay but it just doesn't cut it for me. I've researched and googled as much as I can but the closest thing that Google has done for Picasa/Mac is a tool that allows you to upload via iPhoto onto the Picasa web album. Argh!

Googlers, get a move on!!

On another note, I've been playing with Photo Booth in my Mac and here are my first three shots:

colored pencil effect (yes, it's too dark)

supposedly comic book effect

pop art. i look weird

Yes, I'm silly.

More about the Ikea saga

I called them this morning to check whether they had found the missing 15 stock items. WELL, the Ikea girl said they had just had a delivery today but it wouldn't be on the floor yet. She said to call back again tomorrow.

And so it continues... the hunt for the missing bookcase.

Moonlight Cinema

We went to see Casino Royale at the Moonlight Cinema (Royal Botanical Gardens). It was quite fun! I'm posting the pics here first as I can't be bothered writing about it in detail yet.

Curses!

Just an update on the IKEA excursion:

After work, I went out for drinkies with a few work mates. D picked me up from the bar and we headed off to Ikea to buy his bookcase.

After being distracted by silly stuff that we just had to buy, we finally made our way to the warehouse area to pick up the bookcase. IT WAS FREAKIN' OUT OF STOCK.

The Ikea boy said they were fully out of stock and it might take 2 weeks for delivery. He also said they were missing 15 bookcases but it might just be a computer glitch. Damn you, Ikea.

Bowling is lots of fun

Last night we went bowling in Chadstone. It was for D's birthday and his whole family came and played. It was so much fun!!

We only played 2 games each but with 11 people having a go, it took us over 2 hours to finish. Everyone was getting tired by the middle of the second game too. Weak.

Amazingly, I did well. Got 128 in the first game and 126 in the next. I'm usually just pretty average.

I was glad that all of his family took the time to come and play with us. D enjoyed himself as well. Which is good, as I was worried that he wouldn't like it.

Would've been good if my family could come join us too. But they couldn't. Coz they live in another continent. Oh well.

We're going to buy his gift tonight from IKEA. You would think I'd be over that store. But I'm not.

Thanks Jenita!

Jen gave us a CD of pictures she took during our wedding. Thanks to the wonders of Picasa, I was able to edit/enhance some choice pics. They're really fun as they focus more on our (quirky) guests.

You can view the album here.

More Wedding Pictures c/o Jen

Getting healthy

I went to my first yoga class (ever!) last Tuesday night. It's near our place and on the way home from the office. It wasn't too bad. Nothing strenuous. I'll probably try to go once a week.

This is part of my action plan to get healthy. I have done nearly nil about my exercise regimen for over a year now. I just feel so unhealthy these days. Plus, I want to be able to wear my old clothes again...

Part of the plan is to do pilates once a week at home. I have a DVD so I just need to set aside 40 minutes of my time to actually do it. I'll also drag D to go walking with me on the beach once a week.

As you can see, it's not a very strenuous exercise regimen. I just need to feel a bit healthier and try to get my back sorted (I've been having constant back and neck aches for some time now. The physiotherapist suggested pilates could help). I hope I can sustain it... Wish me luck!

Birthday silliness

Since I didn't know what to get D for his birthday, I decided to give him 6 choices, out of which he had to choose 2.

They were:

• Bookcase for his Vinyl Record Collection
• Swim with Dolphins & Seals
• Light Aircraft Hands on Training Flight
• Gold Class Movie Date
• Cruise and Penguin Watching for Two
• Karting Racing Session for Two

Guess what he chose? Yup, the practical one, the bookcase (not that I minded that choice as I was rooting for that too). And he refused to choose another gift. Said the bookcase was enough. Probably found the other choices lame. Oh well, I tried. Personally, I would have loved flying a plane but to each his own. But he did mention he would rather jump out of a plane than fly one so I have to go find a skydiving adventure next.

He also said he didn't like being fussed on. And just wanted to keep his birthday simple and ordinary. This is totally contrary to how I like to celebrate birthdays but it is his birthday.

But I already arranged for a Bowling Night with his family tonight. I thought it would be a more interesting activity than a regular dinner. He said it was okay though. Hope so.

This is a paradigm shift for me. I love giving gifts and making a fuss on people I care about, especially during special occasions. I like using creativity to surpise people with non-regular gifts.

But, he likes things different. And what I'm figuring it out as I go along is that I need to give him what he wants and not what I think he'd want. Hmm... Marriage is hard work.

Happy birthday D!